COMEBACK
CHEMISTRY OF LOVE Blanchett, Mara on crafting ‘Carol’
Red Deer boxer Cam O’Connell will fight in the main event at Adrenaline Rush in Edmonton in June
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Red Deer Advocate WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
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Struggling to cope SELF-HARMING DOWN AMONG SOME GROUPS, UP AMONG OTHERS, STUDY SUGGESTS BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Children and youth in Alberta going to emergency rooms for self-harming behaviour were more often from families who received government subsidies, according to a new University of
Alberta study. The self-harming included anything from cutting to asphyxiation. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry study published in the March edition of the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine looked at 6,000 hospital visits of young patients from 2002 until 2011.
“We can’t confirm whether they wanted to die or not. We do know that the intent was to harm oneself,” said Amanda Newton, lead study author and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics. But it would be reasonable to say that some wanted to end their lives and some were self-harming as a mal-
adaptive coping strategy, she said. The average age of patients was 16. The study found First Nations children and youth, who only represented six per cent of Alberta’s youngsters, made up 16 per cent of all visits for self-harming.
Please see STUDY on Page A2
JAMIE BOUTIN OF RED DEER ENJOYS SWIMMING BUT WORRIES THE CITY OF RED DEER COULD IMPOSE A BAN ON MONOFINS
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BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer woman is a mermaid on a mission. Jamie Boutin, 30, regularly swims wearing a mermaid tail with a monofin on her feet at Michener Aquatic Centre. She says people have the wrong idea about the diving apparatus that has been banned in Edmonton public pools. First of all, mermaid tails and fins are not toys. “I think that is part of the problem, people thinking they are a toy,” Boutin said on Tuesday. “As long as you know what you’re
doing, it’s not dangerous. But if you don’t have the proper supervision, it could be.” That’s why mermaids like Boutin
generally don’t need them but it’s for safety reasons, and my pool is happy with that so they continue to let me swim.
‘I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT IF YOU’RE A PARENT AND YOU’RE BUYING YOUR KID THAT TYPE OF THING, YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED TO GET ON YOUR SWIM SUIT AND GET IN THE POOL WITH YOUR KID. LIFEGUARDS ARE TRAINED BUT NONE OF THEM HAVE EVER BEEN TRAINED TO HAUL UP A MERMAID.’ — JAMIE BOUTIN
always swim with someone. “We have somebody in the pool not in a tail, just for our assistance. We
“I personally feel that if you’re a parent and you’re buying your kid that type of thing, you need to be prepared
to get on your swim suit and get in the pool with your kid. Lifeguards are trained but none of them have ever been trained to haul up a mermaid.” Boutin was by her nine-year-old daughter’s side when she was learning how to swim with a monofin. “It’s quite easy to learn if you have somebody right there with you.” She said Calgary is testing swimmers before they are allowed to use the equipment in a public pool, and that makes sense for children. “Kids like to push boundaries a lot. In the water, that’s not the appropriate place to be doing that.”
Please see MERMAID on Page A2
Perjury trial in the hands of the judge BY MURRAY CRAWFORD ADVOCATE STAFF A Red Deer woman was under duress when she took responsibility for a murder she didn’t commit at her then-boyfriend’s trial, her lawyer says. But the Crown argues that Janessa Desire Eliuk is not a credible witness, nor were the threats to harm her legitimate enough for a sustained duress defence. The 26-year-old is charged with perjury. Closing arguments were heard on Tuesday by Justice Sheila Martin in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench. Martin
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will give her verdict this morning. Defence counsel Tyson Dahlem conceded that Eliuk perjured herself in February 2008, while on the stand in the second-degree murder trial of thenboyfriend Paul Lionel White. White was accused of stabbing Grant Shoemaker 35 times, killing him. However, Dahlem said Eliuk’s testimony was given under duress. She was being threatened by White and his roommate Kenny Deck. The two presented Eliuk with the plan to have her admit to the murder on the stand during White’s trial. The plan was presented during a visit at the Red Deer Remand Centre. Deck told her if she didn’t like the idea, she could
meet his friends on the street. Eliuk testified she took this as a threat to her safety. She also testified that White threatened to have his family write police statements saying Eliuk murdered Shoemaker. And he threatened to take steps to have Eliuk’s son taken away. Dahlem said these threats were real and show Eliuk testified under duress. Eliuk was 19 when she testified, and Dahlem said any teen would respond badly to the situation, particularly a teenage mom whose boyfriend, and father of the child, was on trial for murder.
Please see PERJURY on Page A2
Courtroom packed for preliminary hearing The man accused of killing a little boy and his grandparents frantically scribbled notes as a preliminary hearing began Tuesday. Story on PAGE A3
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